Admission agreements are integral to defining the rights and obligations of both health care facilities and the patients they serve. For skilled nursing facilities ("SNF"), the use of arbitration provisions in those agreements has been uncertain in the recent past. However, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services ("CMS") recently issued a final rule removing this regulatory prohibition but, in doing so, also made changes to the proposed rule which has allowed these provisions since 2017. Below is a description of pre-dispute arbitration provisions, the effects of CMS's new rule, and some issues SNFs should consider in light of this new rule.

von Briesen continues to monitor the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General (the "OIG") Work Plan to provide insight into emerging legal trends in health care. Health organizations are advised to use the Work Plan to identify the OIG's areas of interest and enforcement priorities, and to review and update policies and procedures accordingly.

This Legal Update summarizes some of the significant OIG Work Plan updates released for March, April and May 2019.